BrisConn admits to "significant uncertainty"

Brisconnections, the operator of Brisbane’s Airport Link tunnel, has conceded that there is ‘‘significant uncertainty’’ about the outcome of crunch talks with its bankers and will suspend its units from trading on the ASX.

In a statement released after the market closed, the troubled operator of Brisbane’s Airport Link said the board had decided today to enter into ‘‘formal negotations’’ with its lenders about ‘‘potential reconstruction options’’.

The decision took ‘‘into account that on present levels and operating costs, the enterprise value may be less than the outstanding debt’’, BrisConnections said in a short statement.

Earlier today, BrisConnections was placed in a trading halt and will not trade on the ASX until it has negotiations with its lenders.

The traffic on the 6.7-kilometre toll road which connects Brisbane Airport to the central city is half what Brisconnections was projecting it to be – even without full tolls in place.

‘‘It certainly doesn’t look encouraging,’’ Andrew Chambers, a research analyst at Legg Mason, said of the departure of the two directors and the talks with the bankers.

‘‘If they put a full toll on it ... traffic would be 50 per cent down on expectations. Therefore, it is going to struggle to manage its debt load.’’

Macquarie Group owns 45 per cent of the units in Brisconnections, Deutsche Bank 33 per cent and the state government’s Queensland Investment Corporation 8.28 per cent.

BrisConnections appears set to follow a similar path to the failed operators of toll-roads in Sydney such as the Lane Cove and Cross City tunnels, and Brisbane’s Clem7 tunnel.

Mr Chambers said the most likely option would be for Airport Link to be put up for sale, although this would result in equity-holders being left with nothing and debt holders having to take a haircut. BrisConnections, through its traffic forecaster Arup, had predicted the Airport Link would attract about 135,000 vehicles a day just a month after it opened, rising to 291,000 vehicles in 2026.

But its latest figures show daily traffic volumes totalled just 66,000 vehicles in October.